Jehtro Tull

Crew Nights



Tear it down in double quick time
To get the eighth truck shifted "bout midnight
The locker rooms are empty but the [Strobo Tickers?][strobe boats?]
still spin with their pitching lights
And someone with a yellow pass
Gives out precise directions as to where and when

And here am I with a drumstick,
While young girls set to rendezvous, and be recognized again
Tomorrow is an off-day,
Be in Baltimore by Thursday is the only law.
There"s a suite down at the hotel
Reserved for making merry with connecting doors.
The lighting man"s already improvised a bar,
And printed invitations to the ball.
Off duty cops line corridors wearing Tull [two?] T-shirts proudly
on the band"s [...] wall

Crew nights, no flashlights or folding knives,
Best boots and road suits and nine lives.

Feeling that it might be wrong to
Temporarily belong to the P.A. man [men?]
Some angel from the midwest is regretting being
Undressed with no suntan
His polaroid is snapping
The head carpenter is rapping on
The gates of dawn

Sitting lonely with a warm beer
The girl with dental braces wishes that she hadn"t gone.

Crew nights, no bar fights or [feeders?] [veeders?] wives
Thin walls and late [blade?] calls and nine lives.

  [Ken Stitzel writes: Still no clue on the first line, but I think
   ``late calls"" is definitely correct for the second line. It makes
   sense from a stagehand terminology perspective. I know that it
   sounds like there"s a ``b"" sound in there, but I think it"s just a
   minor flaw in Ian"s diction. (It"s really tough to sing clearly,
   especially in rock music.)]

Crew nights, no flashlights or folding knives,
Best boots and road suits and nine lives.